The polls show Bill Shorten's Labor ahead of Tony Abbott's Coalition on a two-party preferred basis

AFP/AAP

Fighting off dire post-budget polls, Treasurer Joe Hockey has delivered a stern warning to Australians, telling them if they do not want to help fix the budget now, it is "only going to get harder".

Voter support for the Coalition has slumped on the back of last week's federal budget, according to polls published in Fairfax and News Corp papers today.

Mr Hockey says the Government "never thought this budget would be popular", but he has defended it, saying the tax hikes and billions of dollars in cuts are "right for our future".

"We didn't go through all the pain of politics and all the pain of elections and all the dark days of opposition and get back into government to do the things that might please people, to make it easy on the ear," he told a business function in Sydney.

"We did it to make a difference for our nation. That's why we are in the game. We are not in politics to occupy the space and we are not in politics to play silly, populist games.

"We're about building a stronger future for our nation, and sure that is hard, but we are going to do it because we must.

"There is no choice and it is only going to get harder if the Australian people do not want to contribute now and if our political opponents do not want to facilitate the decisions that must be made.

"It gets harder and not easier."

The Nielsen poll in Fairfax newspapers has the Coalition down four points and Labor up four points on a two-party preferred basis, with Labor in front 56 to 44 per cent - tripling its lead from last month's poll.

The Coalition's primary vote has slumped from 40 per cent in early April to 35 per cent - 11 points lower than its vote in the election last September.

And a significant number of voters have switched to the ALP, bringing its primary support up from 34 per cent in April to 40 per cent - a figure not seen against the Labor Party's name in a national poll for years.

On the Prime Minister's performance, Nielsen says 34 per cent approve of Tony Abbott's efforts - a 10-point slump - while approval of Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's performance is up to 47 per cent.

On the budget, 63 per cent of people said it was not fair, and 53 per cent thought it was bad for Australia, against 42 per cent who believed it was good for the country.

The Newspoll published in The Australian has similarly dire numbers for the Government, showing Labor in front 55 to 45 per cent on a two-party preferred basis.

And for the first time, voters prefer Mr Shorten as prime minister over Mr Abbott, giving him a 10-point lead in the better prime minister stakes at 44 to 34 per cent - a six-point drop for the PM since last month.

The Nielsen poll has a margin of error of 2.6 per cent and Newspoll's margin of error is 3 per cent.

"Every government that brings in a tough budget suffers a hit in the polls," Mr Abbott said.

"If you go back to 1996 - the last tough budget - the Howard government, of which I was then a pretty junior member, suffered a massive hit in the polls."

But the poll results from both Newspoll and Fairfax Herald-AGB McNair a week after the August 20, 1996 budget was handed down paint a different story, instead showing a boost for the Howard government.

The Coalition's primary support climbed three points and Mr Howard's satisfaction rating also rose from 51 to 53.

A one-on-one meeting this morning with Queensland Premier Campbell Newman appears to have mollified some of the concerns about the cuts from that state.

"We've had a rational, sensible discussion," Mr Newman said.

"I've clearly articulated the problems that I have with the budget cuts in the next few years and the long-term impacts on health and education.

"Now, I believe we can work through these things."

The premiers - Mr Newman in particular - have accused the Abbott Government of trying to "wedge" them into asking for an increase to the rate of the GST - a tax collected by the Commonwealth but distributed to the states.

But Mr Napthine, who faces an election in November, says he will not canvass that option.

"We don't believe that there is any need for an additional GST on Victorians. We don't support an increase in the GST. We don't support a broadening of the base," he told AM.